282 Jack Acquroff

Biography

Centre forward Jack Acquroff joined the Tigers in November 1934 after performing impressive goalscoring feats in the Southern League. Replacing Bill Charlton, another new signing, at pivot Acquroff scored his first City goal three days before Christmas Day against Notts County then hit his straps in the New Year – between early January and mid March he notched seven times in nine starts including winning goals against Bury, Bradford Park Avenue and Bolton Wanderers, plus a brace in a victory over Burnley. He missed only two senior games between his signing and the end of his first season, reaching double figures for goals.

The 1935/36 season was one of contrasts. While Acquroff enhanced his reputation, scoring thirteen goals and appearing in every match apart from the season opener, the Tigers slipped into a terrible run of form that a change of manager – David Menzies returning to replace Jack Hill in February 1936 – couldn’t reverse. In September 1935 Acquroff scored the only goal in a 1-0 win over his former side Tottenham Hotspur, indeed he scored in each of the five victories that the Tigers mustered all season, but the four goals he scored in the last four games were mere consolation as Hull City slid ignominiously into Division Three North. Jack fell out of favour at the start of the 1936/37 season and after returning to the first team to score both goals in an October 1936 victory over Crewe Alexandra, the club, rocked by the death of Menzies two week earlier, sold him on.

John Henry “Jack” Acquroff was born in the Chelsea district of West London to parents of Russian and Scottish parentage, his father worked as a motor engineer. Between 1928 and 1931 Jack enjoyed an education at the Willesden Polytechnic Building School while playing local league football. In June 1931 he joined Division Two side Tottenham Hotspur and for three years he spent time playing for the Tottenham Reserves team and their nursery club, Kent League side Northfleet United. He scored an impressive haul of goals at Northfleet, twice heading the Kent League scoring charts, but that was not enough to secure a longer term future at White Hart Lane and he left Spurs in the 1934 close season. In August 1934 Jack was snapped by Folkestone, another Kentish side that competed in the Southern League, and after scoring a debut hattrick he continued to hit goals at an impressive rate. It was this form that impressed City manager Jack Hill when he travelled to watch a different player in the Folkestone side. In November 1934 City paid £250 for Acquroff’s services.

Acquroff left Hull City and joined Division Two side Bury in October 1936, the £2,500 transfer fee paid was a record for the Shakers. Jack scored three times in his first four starts for the Shakers before dropping out of the first team in the run up to Christmas and played sporadically for the rest of the season. Despite missing a month of football early on, Jack was a first team regular in the 1937/38 season and netted nine times including a New Years Day brace against Lancastrian rivals Burnley. He began the 1938/39 season on good form before missing most of November to injury, by January 1939 he had taken his tally for Bury to sixteen goals in 58 starts. On the first day of February 1939 Acquroff was tempted to join divisional rivals Norwich City, he scored six goals in the last 17 matches including an April 1939 brace against Blackburn Rovers, but for the second time in four years his goals could not avoid his club being relegated to the third tier.

The 1939/40 season was quickly abandoned on the outbreak of World War Two, Acquroff lived in Wembley, West London but kept playing wartime matches for Norwich City until joining the Royal Air Force in October 1940. His duties kept him in England, spending time in the West Midlands and London, and he played wartime fixtures for numerous clubs, most notably Birmingham City between 1942 and 1944 and Wolverhampton Wanderers between 1944 and 1945, but also West Bromwich Albion, Walsall, Millwall, Fulham – in September 1945 he briefly served his first professional club Tottenham Hotspur.

Acquroff retired from playing in 1946 ahead of the resumption of the Football League and took work as a railway clerk in Wembley. In November 1949 Jack, along with his wife and two daughters, emigrated to the Australian island state of Tasmania, where he played football and coached youngsters well into his seventies. Initially living in Franklin to the south of the island, he later moved to Launceston at the northern end of Tasmania where he died in November 1987.

Details

Nationality: England
Date/Place of Birth: 9 September 1911, Chelsea
Hull City First Game: 1 December 1934, Barnsley H (Division Two), 23 years, 83 days old
Hull City Final Game: 24 October 1936, Crewe Alexandra H (Division Three North), 25 years, 45 days old

Clubs

Willesden Polytechnic (1928-1931), Tottenham Hotspur (1931-1934), Northfleet United (1932-1934), Folkestone (1934), Hull City (1934-1936), Bury (1936-1939), Norwich City (1939-1940)

Hull City Record

Career: 72 apps, 25 goals